Eastern Point Lighthouse | ©2012 David Allio
The coastline and major waterways of the United States are dotted with lighthouses in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Eastern Point Lighthouse is a privately owned structure standing watch over the harbor entrance to Gloucester, Massachusetts. The original lighthouse built on this site in 1832 was replaced in 1890 with the structure still in service today.
For a photographer, correct exposure is the key to an image with proper definition and contrast– distinction between highlights and shadows – on the solid white painted masonry surface. Bright, direct sunlight may be the easiest way to obtain this definition, but what happens on those days of high hazy cirrus clouds?
Overexposure of the highlights leads to a loss of detail. The proper exposure for best definition of this white structure is to expose for the highlights.
The exposure formula for this photograph of the Eastern Point Lighthouse was an aperture of f/11, and a shutter speed of 1/400th of a second, with a film ISO of 200 – equivalent to the exposure for bright sunshine. A Nikon D3 camera and Nikkor AF VR Zoom 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens set to 155mm were hand-held for the composition.
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